Shooting blanks

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WHEN TRENDY drug programs -- such as
Australia's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre,
which allows junkies to shoot up under medical
supervision -- are born, they invariably are touted as
the savvy new way to address the world's drug
problems.

Sydney's center was billed when it opened in May
2001 as a model of the "harm reduction" philosophy
-- which is gaining momentum in the United States
and seeks to minimize the negative consequences of
risky drug use. Sponsors said the center would
"decrease overdose deaths, provide a gateway to
treatment, reduce the problem of discarded needles
and users injecting in public places."

So junkies are allowed to buy drugs on the street --
it's against the law for the government to distribute
heroin -- then inject themselves at the center under
medical supervision in case they overdose. Health
workers also can refer drug users for drug
rehabilitation or other government services.

Junkies, however, can't smoke at the center.
Smoking, you see, is hazardous to their health.

News flash: A report released this month on the
center's impact shows that letting junkies shoot up in
a clinic has failing-to-dubious results.

Did the center reduce drug overdoses? The report
found that the substantial reduction in opioid
overdoses "could not be attributed to the operation of
the MSIC." Yes, there was a reduction in use
because a heroin drought hit Down Under before the
center opened. (When I visited the center in August
2001, I was stunned at the bad timing. Shortages
were taking care of much of the heroin problem, but
the do-gooders were pushing a plan to make it safer
to shoot up.)

To answer the question, the report's best
guess-timate was that the center prevented at least
four deaths each year. (Which a different program
might also have done.)

A gateway to treatment? The evaluation said the
MSIC provided referrals for drug dependence to 11
percent of the clients. But that doesn't mean junkies
followed up. In June, Sydney's Daily Telegraph
reported that the Salvation Army announced it had
received no referrals to its drug rehabilitation program
from the Sydney injecting clinic, ever -- even though
its drug program has a vacancy rate of 20 percent.

Fewer needles in the neighborhood? Community
residents said they saw fewer needles. (No surprise,
there's a heroin drought.) Syringe counts of the
MSIC's Kings Cross neighborhood showed a
decrease when the center opened, followed by a
"gradual increase" in syringes.

Here's some not-so-great news: "The available
evidence does not suggest that there was a large
increase in drug-related loitering in Kings Cross
following the opening of the MSIC." Oh joy, not a
large increase.

If a traditional anti-drug program showed such sorry
results, politicians on the left would denounce it as
yet another dumb big-spending drug program. But
under the "harm reduction" aegis, failure apparently
is acceptable.

New South Wales Special Minister of State John
Della Bosca announced that the report "makes a
strong case for the center's continuing operation."
Australia's Green Party backs opening new injecting
centers in rural areas.

Daily Telegraph columnist Piers Akerman, however,
has taken on the thankless task of challenging the
center, with its $1.8 million budget last year. "At $63
a throw (it was projected to cost only $37), the
shooting gallery isn't delivering value," Akerman
writes. "The same funding could have supported 100
residential rehabilitation beds in nongovernment
institutions, offering residential drug dependence
treatment."

When the center opened, it was supposed to be for
an 18-month "trial." But with its "harm reduction"
philosophy, the verdict was fixed: The center can fail
to provide a gateway for users to enter rehabilitation,
do little to clean up needles and neighborhoods, and
show unclear results on overdoses, but as long as it
suggests there can be safer hard-core drug use, the
center cannot fail.

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